Originally published in Esk Valley News
http://www.eskvalleynews.co.uk/
It is wonderful working
in a t-shirt from first to last thing. I do keep asking myself how long the dry
spell will last and how many jobs it is possible to tick off the list while it
lasts.
I have been working on
raised vegetable beds: the wooden frames are built and now I am filling them up
with top soil. Our (rather large) heap of soil came from the back of the house
as we dug down to remove the earth off the exterior walls. There are plenty of
surprises therein including cutlery, broken glass and pottery, scrap metal as
well as the ubiquitous bale band.
Nicola and I were lucky
enough to be asked to help out the Rare Breed Survival Trust (RBST) at the
Great Yorkshire Show. This comprised, mostly, of preventing enthusiastic
children from getting too close to a Gloucester cow and her calf and talking
with potential members. It also resulted in quite the coincidental meeting. A
lady approached me to enquire about rare pigs, describing a situation in the
1970’s when she worked on a farm in Glaisdale. It quickly became apparent Sue
was referring to Giles and Mary at Bank House. I still have their book at my
bedside; that night I flicked forwards through the pages to find a story about
the bolting horse and a noisy brush harrow!
In the afternoon at the
Great Yorkshire we had chance to look around. It was great to see people we’ve
bought stock from doing well with top prizes in both the cattle and sheep
classes. In particular, Dave and Debbie Wardell from Pickering always have a
fine Whitefaced Woodland tup on show. We have been mulling over which breed of
cattle to concentrate on for some time now. The Belted Galloway regularly tops
our wish list, so it was useful to talk with the Breed Secretary, Ian
Sutherland, and meet some of the breeders and their cows. It is absolutely
vital for us that the breed we choose can live out year round, thrive on our
upland grass and mother healthy calves. In that respect we also took in the
views of the Angus representative, but Belties remain favourite.
Just as I apply the
finishing touches to this article Strickland’s of Hutton le Hole have arrived
to rake and bale 11 acres of traditional hay meadow. The grass was cut on
Wednesday and has been left to dry, in part so it reaches the correct moisture
level for hay, but that delay allows some seed to drop off and enhance the
sward. The job involves a lot of large machines driving through 12 foot gates
with stone posts so time for me to run out and have a look…
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